Rafa Benitez task to cure Fernando Torres

RAFA BENITEZ lives, eats and sleeps football. Look at his personal website and you see it is dominated by articles he has written about the tactics of all the top European clubs in Champions League matches.

Maybe it’s no surprise that Chelsea have been a consistent focus of his attention in the past few weeks.

He has admired the ‘play between the lines’ of Oscar, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata, as well as criticising defensive errors that have left the reigning European champions on the brink of an early exit at the group stage.

It’s also clear enough that Benitez considered Chelsea to have been out-thought by both Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk in key matches.

Have these tactical masterclasses been required reading for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich? Who knows?

But they leave no doubt that Benitez is a mightily self-confident manager and that he retains a vast belief in his own sporting destiny to be in charge of a major team.

After working at Liverpool and Inter Milan, there are just a handful of clubs that appeal to the Spaniard, who happily responds to English sceptics with the riposte: “If you look at my CV, I have won all the trophies you can win.”

If you look at my CV, I have won all the trophies you can win.

Rafa Benitez

His method has been analysis, yet more analysis and the application of intelligence. And it has garnered success in the Champions League, the FA Cup, La Liga, the UEFA Cup and the World Club Cup.

There is one glaring omission, though – the Premier League title. He spent six seasons at Liverpool and failed each time.

This is why Benitez has taken the gamble on joining Chelsea as interim manager to replace the sacked Roberto Di Matteo. He sees a serious chance to capture the one trophy that has eluded him, with the two big rivals Manchester United and Manchester City both blighted by inconsistent form so far this season.

The gamble for Rafa is on two fronts. One is whether he can either reignite the faded glory of striker Fernando Torres or be handed a dynamic replacement like Falcao in the January transfer window. The second is that Abramovich fails to persuade his No1 managerial target Pep Guardiola to join Chelsea next summer, and that Benitez will have done well enough to stay at a club with the resources to challenge for every trophy every season.

Every second question Benitez has faced in the few days since his emergency arrival at Stamford Bridge has been about the £50million Torres – a striker deep in the doldrums, yet with such a brilliant past pedigree.

Benitez has tried to deflect the matter – but he can’t, not even in a much-heralded conversation with Abramovich on Thursday evening.

“I won’t say we weren’t talking about Fernando but we were talking about a lot of things,” said Benitez, treading with caution. “They can see that he (Torres) has to improve. Everyone can see he has the potential and we will try to improve him.

“Perhaps Hazard can help or maybe Mata, and I’m sure that if the others can create clear and better chances, he will score goals.

“It is now my job to find out why he is not scoring as many goals as he did at Liverpool. I have ideas. I have been talking to him. I like to do the same with everyone and Torres will be one of them.

“He is a very important player, but if we keep talking about Fernando and not the others it is not fair. We will try to improve Fernando and we will try to improve the others. That is our job. You have to put your arm around his shoulder and push.” Perhaps it is just a matter of psychology, of confidence.

But there is a strong school of thought that the short passing style of the three musketeers of Oscar, Hazard and Mata does not suit Torres, whose goals under Benitez at Liverpool mostly came from darting behind defences on to longer balls from Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

Will Benitez be more cautious than Di Matteo in his use of the musketeers? Not judging by his open admiration for them in his Rafa blog.

The analysis and experience of Benitez face a stiff test here. In contrast, there is nothing he can do about the second part of his gamble – how Chelsea’s pursuit of Guardiola pans out.

Benitez could win all five possible trophies for Chelsea this season, and it would still not be enough if Guardiola agreed to become the boss at Stamford Bridge.

Will that happen? It’s impossible to say. Money talks, yet the off-field chaos at Chelsea and short-term mentality of Abramovich are likely to be a deterrent.

Benitez can only be diplomatic, saying: “I know the situation. I have come here to improve the team, and if I can win trophies it is fantastic for the club and I will be really pleased.

“I have a good relationship with Pep, so sometime I will call him and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ I am sure he is enjoying life in New York, and I guarantee that when you come back from a sabbatical year as a manager you are more focused.”